Barclays Shares Fall on Funding Worries Talk

Reuters

Friday, 2 Nov 2007 | 7:07 AM ETReuters

SHARES

Shares in British bank Barclays fell heavily in morning trade Friday and were among the biggest losers in Europe on market talk of funding worries and concern that Britain's third-biggest bank was guiding down numbers.

The Bank of England said it had "no comment" on the market talk. Barclays also declined to comment for CNBC Europe.

By 0950 GMT, shares in Barclays were down 7 percent at 533.5 pence. Later, shares recovered slightly from the session's lows, trading down 5.6 percent.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index lost 0.9 percent, led by losses in financials, extending sharp falls seen in the previous session on credit crunch worries.

Just three weeks ago, Barclays said profit at its Barclays Capital investment bank in September were substantially ahead of the previous two months, when a credit crunch hurt business.

Investors remain jittery about the exposure of banks to the credit market turmoil that has hit financial markets, increased borrowing costs and dried up liquidity for many financial products, and analysts expect BarCap's earnings growth to slow sharply next year.

"Despite its inexpensive valuation we are reinstating Barclays with a neutral due to uncertainty regarding the revenue outlook for BarCap," Goldman Sachs said in a note on Friday.